1 .-- Went to meeting this morning with a fearful apprehension lest I should have to expose myself in that which is so contrary to my natural inclination.

And so it proved; for I had not sat long, before I was made willing to express what rested weightily on my mind, and that was the case of Gideon, when the angel appeared to him under the oak as he threshed wheat.

I commented a little on the subject, which afforded me great satisfaction and joy.
In the following entry, notwithstanding the tardy obedience which it records, we find his commission as one of the Lord's watchmen sealed upon his mind.
1817.

4 _mo_.7.In meeting yesterday morning I was enabled publicly to relieve myself of a little matter which had been a burden on my mind for two or three meetings past, in which I had felt pretty smartly the rod which, is held over the head of the disobedient.

In this instance, human nature seemed stubborn in a double degree, but after it was over I felt my peace flow as a river.